They had dinner with Chuck that evening, and had a nice family time, together. Vic and Chuck played checkers (sparing Greg that agony), and Vic won three out of six matches (highlighting Greg's ineptness at the game). When they'd had enough of that, Vic suggested to Greg that they take a little walk.
"There's something I wanted to talk about, and it'll be best if we're alone."
He looked at her quizzically. "Okay, if you want."
"Daddy, we'll be back in a bit," Vic called, as they left the house. Then, rather than going for a walk, she directed them to Greg's pre-wedding abode. She settled in the big chair. He sat in a kitchen chair in front of her.
"I was just thinking..." Vic began.
"Oh, no. Not that."
"Be nice, Greg. I was thinking - or maybe wondering - now that we're married, is it all over for us?"
"All over?"
"Well, I've heard it said, and read it - sometimes as a joke, but not always - that all the excitement and anticipation of getting married kind of ends when you actually get married."
He tried to judge how serious she was. "I'd been thinking a little differently. You know, the radio, and the telephone, and the movies that we know may just be passing fancies..."
"That's very nicely put," she interrupted him. "It's almost like song lyrics. I had what is kind of a similar thought. The Rockies may tumble, Gibraltar may crumble. They're only made of clay."
"Vic, you know it isn't nice to steal from the same source that I'm using. Nevertheless, I was getting to the next line. Whatever is going on now - whatever comes and goes - our love is here to stay. Definitely, here to stay!"
"Oh, I know that. That's been a 'given' since the day we met. We'll always love each other sincerely and deeply. That's not what I was referring to."
"You are thinking in terms of romance?"
"Well..."
"More specifically," he interrupted her. "You are thinking about sex."
"Since you put it so delicately... Yes, that is what I was referring to. They say that romance is all about conquest, and once the conquest is made, you don't need it anymore. And sex - well, it's the ultimate conquest and satisfaction, but then... Well, after marriage, sex with the same partner is just repetition, isn't it?"
He seemed to be thinking. "Well, take romance. You conquested me pretty early in our relationship. Whatever romance I offered you wasn't really necessary. Maybe it was even superfluous. Maybe it was wasted effort. But it was fun, wasn't it?
"As for sex after marriage not being as good, we've actually considered ourselves married for some time. Why do I remember some rather excellent sexual encounters and performances during that time?"
"Well, we weren't legally married in the eyes of the Law. Maybe that makes a difference."
"Okay, we'll consider that. Sex on our first actual legal night was perhaps a little sedate, but that may have been because my parents were in the next room, and we were both so exhausted we couldn't keep our eyes open. In its own way, it was still pretty nice, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was."
"And last night - our first legal night that we were alone and well rested - that might not have been the most memorable performance of all time, but it was certainly well up in the 'Top Ten,' wasn't it?"
"Yes, but that may well have been our final big night - our 'good bye' performance, so to speak."
Greg stood up, and moved the kitchen chair off to the side. "I feel that you don't believe what you're saying, and that you have some ulterior motive for this conversation. Just let me say that I am ready to prove that we still have some very sexy times ahead of us."
She let her eyes roam down his body. 'Yes, I can see that."
"Are you ready to participate in a little experiment now to confirm my belief?"
"Yes, I believe I could be convinced to join in your experiment."
"There is a nice bed right near us. Are you prepared to make use of that bed in the furtherance of fact finding?"
"I am."
He held out his hands to her. "Then, let's be about it."
Quite a while later, Vic asked, "Do you think Daddy will be worried about us?"
"Very doubtful."
"You don't think he'll wonder if we've been devoured by wolves?"
"No."
"Should we go back over to the other house, just to show him that we're okay?"
"This is a very nice bed, and since we've already mussed it up, I think we should stay here."
"But I didn't bring a toothbrush."
"I have a spare one, unused."
"I don't have any pajamas to wear."
"I'll keep my eyes closed."
"Okay, then. Turn out the light."
***
"This is a rather small bed, isn't it?" Vic noted, next morning. "I mean, compared to mine."
"It is, but it didn't seem to present too many problems in the night. And speaking of 'in the night,' I don't think the pre-marital excitement is completely gone. Do you?"
"No, but it's still early days. We'll need to keep alert, and regularly 'test the waters,' so to speak."
"That sounds like good advice for us to follow. Actually, I was thinking of a story that Thomas Hardy told in 'Far from the Madding Crowd.' It addresses the very thing we were talking about. Do you want to hear it?"
"Certainly. Anything that might help..."
"Well, Hardy tells a story about a man who married a woman that he loved very much, and who was quite comely..."
"Comely?"
"Pretty, nice to look at. What I'm getting at - well, what Hardy was getting at - is that the man really had no reason to be thinking about other women, but he was. He had a real wandering eye, and apparently wandering feet to go with it. But they solved the problem."
"How?"
"Well, as you noted last night, the danger with getting married is that the pursuit is over. The prize is won, and there's no reason for more romance. This couple brought romance and pursuit back into the marriage by pretending that they weren't married. The woman took off her wedding ring, the man called her by her maiden name, and the wooing was back on."
"And that worked?"
"Well, that's what was implied in the story."
"Interesting. But what if it was the woman who developed the wandering eye? The man could take off his wedding ring, but he couldn't change his name. Say I was the woman. What other enticement could you offer to suggest that the chase was still on?"
"I hadn't thought of that, since the man is always the villain in those type of stories. Let me think." He did. "How about if I wore a pair of red boxer shorts? Red is supposed to be erotically stimulating."
She paused for a moment. "Wait, I'm picturing it in my mind. If I was to remove your shorts, taking a long time to do it - I mean a really, really long, slow time - I bet I wouldn't be thinking about anything or anyone else while I was doing it."
"I know I wouldn't!"
She laughed. "Okay, enough fantasy. I have a feeling we're not really going to need that kind of a cure, no matter what I suggested last night. But if we did, I'm sure our combined imaginations would bring us back to reality pretty quickly."
***
It was still early, but it was a workday. They dressed and went over to the main residence, where Chuck was just finishing up his coffee and pancake breakfast.
"The griddle's still hot, if you want pancakes," he greeted them. "I guess you realize that you missed your 11 o'clock curfew last night."
"Yeah, about that," Greg began. "We let the time get away from us, and we didn't realize how dark it had gotten. Vic was concerned that there could be a wolf pack waiting just outside our door. After discussing it, we decided that the safest thing to do was just wait it out in my house. We would have called to let you know we were okay, but it was late and we didn't want to wake you."
"That all sounds very plausible, and probably you did the right thing. You can't be too careful if there are wolves in the neighborhood."
"That's what we thought," Vic agreed.
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This is an episode from "Vic and Greg: A Wildlife Refuge Romance" (Symbios 2024).
***
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